Artist: Andre Ethier
Album: On Blue Fog
Label: Blue Fog
Rating: 4.5/5
Andre Ethier is timeless: he straddles a space that is at once new and old. On “The Pride of Egypt,” this record’s closer, Either sounds as though he could have been right alongside Bob Dylan in 1966, tearing a hole in the world of folk music and ripping through a nation’s subconscious. After a record full of medium tempo laments, “Egypt” stands like a lighthouse on the rocks in the middle of a full-blown storm that is threatening to make the whole thing fall apart. There’s a few minutes in this song in which it seems like Ethier has his finger on the pulse of rock and roll music.
Elsewhere, as noted, Ethier meanders through a record of half-tempo pseudo-acoustic ballads that at times recall an age gone by, one in which everyone sat down at their instrument to record, and once the record button was pushed and the songwriter strums the first few chords on his guitar, everyone played. There were no pauses for effect, nothing was orchestrated, and everyone simply focussed on what they were doing, all while listening to what everyone else was doing.
Above all, On Blue Fog is about something of a revival, but it is also about tearing down the revival. It is about mutating the revival to the point where it’s barely recognizable, to the point where the only thing that is recognizable from 1966 is the shape. It’s what is inside, however, that has changed shape.
Standout Tracks: 9, 6, 8, 2, 4. Now Playing on CHMA 106.9 FM.
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